Redemption

• 'squeezing,wrenching,grasping ... covetous old sinner.'

  1. Asyndetic Listing: Dickens uses asyndetic listing to describe Scrooge who is portrayed with ongoing immoral characteristics, which present him to be unrepenting.
• 'squeezing,wrenching,grasping ... covetous old sinner.'

  2. Religion: He is described with a total of 7 adjectives which could symbolise the 7 cardinal sins. These were the foundational fact of life in the Victorian Era because Christianity was a major religion. By contrasting Scrooge with the 7 deadly sins, Dickens suggests how the upper class are more likely to be inclined to moral transgression compared to the lower classes.

  3. Dickens critiques societal structures, like the 1834 Poor Law, which is supposed to ironically perceive the laziness and sins of the working class.
• squeezing,wrenching,grasping ... covetous old sinner.'

  4. ZOOM IN: The diction 'squeezing' and 'wrenching' connote ideas of struggle which illustrates how Scrooge is struggling to see the detrimental causes of his frugality

  5.ALTERNATE INTERPRETATION (OPTIONAL): Dickens could imply struggle to the lower class is a direct cause from the capitalists like Scrooge.
• 'yellow' and 'wolfish' (Descriptions of ignorant and want)

  1. ALLEGORICAL CHARACTERS: Dickens uses Ignorant and Want as allegorical beings to demonstrate the abuse of children in society by being neglected by the frugal and oblivious upper class men, who decide to stay ignorant about the negligence of children in society.
• 'yellow' and 'wolfish' (Descriptions of ignorant and want)

  2. The adjective 'yellow': This shows the physical sickness of the children in society as they are pale from malnutrition.

  3. Dickens was a victim to child labor and these descriptions could reflect upon his health as a boy as well as the other children who were working there with him.

  4. This is caused by the negligence of children and social injustice of society.
• 'yellow' and 'wolfish' (Descriptions of ignorant and want)

  5. The interaction between Scrooge and the marginal children imply how the direct cause of suffering amongst the purest forms of life is because of affluent people in society.
• 'yellow' and 'wolfish' (Descriptions of ignorant and want)

  6. The use of animalistic imagery: described as 'wolfish' and 'scowling' which indicates how poverty strips them away from their identity and it dehumanizes them
• 'I will live in the Past, Present and Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me.'

  1. Religious allusions: The key word of 'Three' could be a symbol of the holy trinity (father, the son and the angel). Therefore, the ghosts could be incarnations of God which demonstrates how the moral teaching of the Ghosts are deeply penetrated in Scrooge.
  2. EMPHASIS: 'within me' creates internalisation of these moral teaching and it signifies the desperation of Scrooge moving to a path of salvation and redemption
• 'I will live in the Past, Present and Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me.'

  3. TRANSFORMATION/ JUXTAPOSITION: juxtaposition of 'past, present and future' creates a difference in passage of time which could be symbolic reflection of the stark contrast of his misanthropic nature of being a 'covetous' sinner in stave 1 to a moral and spiritually enlighted man who is dedicated to redemption and salvation.
• 'Quite a baby' 'merry as a school boy' (Stave 5)

  1. VIEWING THE WORLD/ INFANTILE LANG: Scrooge uses infantile self descriptions, as he brands himself as 'baby' and 'school boy' which indicates his rebirth.
  2. It suggests his how the moral teachings of the ghost have made him regain his innocence and youth and because of his youthful innocence he views the world with an untainted light.
  3. TRANSFORMATION: him being a 'old sinner' to a 'baby'
• 'Quite a baby' 'merry as a school boy' (Stave 5)

  4. CHRISTIAN BELIEF OF REBIRTH: In Christianity, rebirth holds significant value as it shows spiritual renewal of an individual, which emphasises Scrooge's youth as he is described as the purest form of life: 'baby.'

  5. ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATION: Jesus rebirthed in order to save humanity so perhaps Scrooge's rebirth is a path of salvation towards the lower class.
• 'Quite a baby' 'merry as a school boy' (Stave 5)

  6. TINY TIM: evident through his paternal akin to his role as a Tiny Tim's 'second father'. It suggests him to be a champion of social justice and a changed man.